


Siren

by fade131



Category: Big Bang (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Fairy Tale Elements, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 11:21:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4135551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fade131/pseuds/fade131
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>And as he sits on the bench longer, he realizes; nothing will be as special as that flower.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Siren

Twilight over the harbor is grey and cool. Seunghyun sits on the bench in the stillness of the growing night and rolls the stem of the flower between his palms, watching the purple and white petals blur and spin. Anemone, just like the flower he gave her on their first date. For this, their first anniversary – a whole year, longer than she expected them to last – he had given her a whole bouquet of them. She'd smiled and touched his cheek, looked up at him through her bangs and quietly explained that there was someone else.

He remembers the soft touch of her fingers when she brushed his hair back from his temple, the delicate caress of her lips on his, the tremor in her hands as she tucked this one flower through the buttonhole of his jacket. But most of all he remembers the careless way she walked away from him, as if it were nothing to turn and go.

The dark water glints silver under the light of the moon, and Seunghyun sighs, stands up from his bench, and lets the flower fall into the water below. It floats, resting delicately on the soft swell of the waves, then suddenly goes under as if snatched. He would ignore it, would keep walking – go home to his empty apartment and the bottle of wine waiting – but he thinks he sees motion there, something under the shimmering surface.

He kneels down at the edge of the walkway, peering down at the water washing lazily against the pilings, and eyes as purple and star-filled as the darkening sky stare back.

That can't be right.

He stays frozen, a slight frown creasing his brow – everything else momentarily forgotten – and finally it moves again, ever so slowly, surfaces enough to watch Seunghyun without the barrier of water before its – _his_ – eyes.

"I won't hurt you," Seunghyun says cautiously, and he's tempted to sit there on the edge but his dangling legs would be in the water, so he stays crouched instead.

The creature cocks his head to the side for a moment, and Seunghyun wonders if he understood, but then he comes up out of the water, catching the edge of the quay to rest his arms on. Seunghyun almost gasps aloud, and he certainly does fall back on his ass in surprise at the sudden movement, but the embarrassment is far from his mind.

Whatever else he may be, the creature is beautiful. The eyes hold him, but he registers smooth skin and broad shoulders, the sweet hesitant smile that stretches full lips, water-slick brown hair that grows long on one side and blurs effortlessly to a turquoise like clear water in sunshine. In one of those narrow hands he notices the flower, and his frown comes back. But he's still cautious, unsure, and even smiling here the creature seems seconds from disappearing into the moonlit bay, and Seunghyun doesn't want that.

He's surprised, in fact, by how much he wants the creature to stay.

"I'm Seunghyun," he says carefully, watching as starry eyes follow the movements of his lips. "What's your name...?"

The creature opens his mouth and Seunghyun hears the far-off shimmer of bells, the slow crash of waves over sand, and the whisper of wind over dark water almost reaches him. "I'm Jiyong," the creature says instead, voice resolving out of the rush, but Seunghyun feels it – the pull, like the tide, urging him to the edge, to the water.

"No one's ever given me a flower before," he says when Seunghyun stays silent, transfixed.

That startles him out of it, and he frowns just slightly, eyes on the anemone in Jiyong's hand. It's already dried from its brief trip underwater, and a thin glint of salt edges the petals in the moonlight. "It wasn't..."

"I know it wasn't on purpose," Jiyong says calmly, and his smile is bright and warm. "But you didn't know I was here. Can I keep it?"

He laughs, almost surprised, but he's nodding. "Yeah, you can."

There's someone coming, footsteps quiet on the path, and Jiyong lets himself gently down from the side of the quay, lingering for a moment in the water. "Come see me tomorrow," he whispers, and his voice trembles with pull of the tide. "Promise me."

"I promise," Seunghyun says quietly, and there's another flash of that sweet smile before Jiyong is gone under the waves, as if he'd never been there at all.

He finds himself by the water the next night, even though he's fairly certain it never happened – tired and depressed, he must have slipped off to sleep on the bench, lulled into dreams by the quiet sound of the water. The quay is dark and empty when he reaches it, the bay cold and unbroken under the moonlight, and that seems to reinforce the idea. But he's come here anyway, so he slips off his sneakers and socks and rolls up his jeans, sitting on the edge with his legs dangling in the water.

It's laughable that he imagined it may have been real, and he closes his eyes and shakes his head.

"What's it like?"

Seunghyun starts, eyes snapping open and Jiyong is there beside him, leaning his arms on the hard cement, though he heard nothing, felt no movement in the water beside him. He feels it now, the ripples that spread from Jiyong's steady breathing, the delicate brush of fins against his calf.

He must stare longer than he thinks, because the creature laughs and it's the crash of waves on rock – and this time Seunghyun feels it completely, the thing that was but a whisper before rings clear in his mind now, the pull to go under, to slip down into the deep and never surface again. Maybe Jiyong sees it in his eyes, because his laughter stops. The feeling fades.

"You don't have to look at me like that," Jiyong says gently. "I'm just as real as you."

That doesn't sound very real, and Seunghyun takes in his liquid purple stare, the curve of his spine down to the strange blur beneath the water, and he wonders what the rest of Jiyong really looks like, if he would feel real to the touch, or if he'd dissolve back into the sea.

He reaches out before he can stop himself and his fingers thread through Jiyong's brown and blue hair. It's softer than he imagined it would be.

"See? I'm real..." he murmurs, and Seunghyun smiles.

"Seems like you must be."

"So what's it like?" he asks again, leaning slightly into Seunghyun's palm before the man pulls his hand away again.

"What's what like?"

"What's... having legs like. Walking. What's it like on land?" His eyes are full of questions, hundreds more, too many to ask in one night, and he rests a hand on Seunghyun's knee as he asks, watching him frown in thought.

Seunghyun can feel the damp from Jiyong's wet fingers seep through the fabric of his jeans. He tries to explain but it's hard, especially with something he'd never considered before. While he's talking, Jiyong's eyes cast out to the horizon, and the distance in his gaze is suddenly frightening, suddenly Seunghyun is afraid this second meeting could be their final meeting too, and he covers Jiyong's hand with his own where it still rests against his knee, and his skin is smooth and cool and strange.

Purple eyes slide to his slowly, and the smile stretches across his lips once more. "It's okay," he murmurs apologetically. "I won't go anywhere."

It's odd how much better he feels with that reassurance.

"Come again tomorrow," Jiyong whispers when Seunghyun glances at his watch and finds it's past midnight. So he does.

And the night after, and after that, until he's surprised to find that it's been three months - three months of comfortable conversations under the moonlight, three months of questions, three months of not realizing he's been alone.

Because, he supposes, he hasn't been alone, not really. 

Jiyong asks so many questions about being on land, so many questions about being human, but when they turn too difficult Seunghyun switches them back, asks what it's like in the ocean, what it's like to swim like that, and Jiyong laughs and tries just as hard to explain. He loves Jiyong's laugh, loves the way it stretches his mouth into the brightest smile, loves even the sweet knell of the ocean that rocks through him at the sound, the gentle plea to let Jiyong pull him down into the cool embrace of the water.

He's sitting on the edge of the quay again, jeans rolled up over his knees, legs dangling in the cool night water, and Jiyong has pulled himself up not beside him, but crosses his arms on Seunghyun's knees and rests his head in the crook of his elbow, peering up through the wet curtain of his hair. Seunghyun feels hyper-aware of the press of Jiyong's chest against his shins, that the arch of his foot keeps brushing the jut of Jiyong's hip where soft skin melts into slick scales. He was telling a story - because Jiyong loves stories, and stories of merfolk are the ones he likes best - but he pauses, distracted by the words he's saying, understanding fully the tale he's telling.

Star-filled purple skies glimmer at his knees. "You've never been afraid," Jiyong murmurs, sounding confused but certain. "You know so much about us, but you've never once feared me."

Seunghyun shrugs. "I don't think you'll hurt me." 

"You know the stories, though. Unwary sailors lured to their deaths by our words, by our songs..."

"There are other stories too. Of merfolk who could walk on land in the guise of humans."

Jiyong's eyes widen in anger, in offense, and it's only a swift grab for his wrist that keeps him there above the water. Seunghyun has no illusions, though; if Jiyong pulls, he'll fall in. But the creature stays still, sunk to his lips in the dark bay, his thin wrist trapped in Seunghyun's grasp. He knows, suddenly, that if Jiyong leaves without telling him to come back again as he has every night, if he doesn't say those words, they will never meet again. The terrible certainty of this makes him tighten his grip, and the creature winces and glares up at him.

"Do you think I'm that wicked? I know those stories too – the ones who went among humans in search of lovers, to mate with and feed off of after." His voice is the icy wind off the waves on a stormy day, and Seunghyun looks away, ashamed.

"I only wondered if it was true. If you could – if any of your kind could walk on land if they wished..."

Jiyong sighs, and Seunghyun feels the tension leave him. He drifts closer once more, rests his cool cheek against Seunghyun's knee.

"There were some who could, but I never asked them how, and it was long ago. A secret lost now. We can make humans like us, but not the other way around." The surprise must show on his face. Jiyong laughs and he closes his eyes as if it were a real tide to pull him under. "Yes, I could make you one of us, I could pull you down into the deep and turn you – but I won't. You would hate me for it, and not of your own accord. It's just how things are."

False dawn shines across the water and Seunghyun sucks in a tired breath. "I could never hate you," he says softly. The smile Jiyong gives him in return is sad. 

"Come again tomorrow," he answers gently. "Come into the water with me." His words are the soft hum of sunset on the horizon, and Seunghyun nods. Of course he'll come, he always does.

The quay slopes at the end, ramps down several feet under the water before dropping off completely. There's a rail on one side, free of rust, that stays just above the waves at high tide. Seunghyun goes in up to his waist, one hand holding firmly to the railing – he's a good swimmer but he's uncertain in the dark water, and the moon is an unhelpful sliver in the sky. He looks back and can just make out the bench, the dark shape of his sneakers by the legs, the shadow that is his sweatpants, his sweatshirt – wrapped around his wallet and watch – and he tugs at the arms of the t-shirt he left on with his swim trunks, wishing the sleeves were longer. But Jiyong is there before long, and he forgets about everything else. 

The creature seems more than excited by this new development – he coaxes Seunghyun a little deeper, up to his chest, teases and pulls at his hands until he forsakes the railing and stands alone. The cool water is calm and still in the bay, no tide pulls at him, and the only movement comes from Jiyong, who swirls around him with dazzling ease, and their talk is as full of laughter as he will let it be.

Seunghyun looks up when clouds hide the slim glow of the moon, just as Jiyong cuts his pulling laughter short, ever mindful of his human friend. It's frightening, suddenly, out in the dark water. There is no light to guide him home.

His reaching hand grasps the rail a little too desperately, but if Jiyong notices, he says nothing.

It's late, very late, and Seunghyun sighs. "I should be going back," he says quietly.

Jiyong surprises him by reaching up, slim arms wrapping around his neck and shoulders in a tight hug, every inch of their bodies pressed together, and Seunghyun swallows hard. The creature's lips brush skin when he speaks, muffled where he's pressed his face into the crook of Seunghyun's neck. "I wish you could swim with me."

"It's dangerous at night," Seunghyun answers carefully, and his hands slide around Jiyong's waist, along the strange border of smooth skin and shiny scales. "You know I trust you, but..." He feels Jiyong lick his lips and shivers. "If we could meet during the day? Somewhere no one would see."

"I know a place," Jiyong says slowly, and Seunghyun thinks he can reach the cove the creature describes.

"Tomorrow, then?" he asks hopefully, pulling back only enough to fix Seunghyun with star-filled eyes.

He shakes his head with difficulty. "Not tomorrow, I have work. But the next day. Is that... is that alright?"

Jiyong smiles, bright and warm, and the whole world could fall away without him caring. "The next day. Meet me then," he says, his voice holding a pull the water does not, and Seunghyun wonders if Jiyong doesn't think he'll come without that extra nudge. Maybe he wouldn't be able to.

The little beach is hard to reach, and he imagines that's why Jiyong picked it. But once he climbs down the steep, rocky hill, the triangle of white sandy beach is quite inviting. Jiyong is already there, spread out on his back in the sand as the waves crash around him – far enough up that his face stays out of the water, but not so far that he doesn't stay wet. Seunghyun realizes belatedly that he's never seen Jiyong in the sunlight. He almost trips over his own feet in the sand, and is glad the creature hasn't noticed him yet.

He's always been beautiful, but in the sun-dappled reflections off the water, Jiyong is breathtaking. The turquoise of his hair swirls around him in the surf, tan skin sun-warmed and glowing, and Seunghyun wants to run his hands over that skin. It's the first time he's seen all of him, too, but it's stranger how natural the long tail looks on Jiyong, his scales a deep blue-green, fins spreading delicate and silver like fine lace. He tilts his head back away from a particularly big wave and spots Seunghyun, smile widening into something sweet and adoring, and his eyes are lavender and brilliant like colored glass. 

He drops his things in the soft sand, above the tide line, and even lets Jiyong convince him out of his shirt. The water is cold but he gets used to it, barely even notices it because Jiyong is just so happy. Even the deep water is shockingly clear, and Seunghyun spends at least half the time watching Jiyong slip through the waves with amazing speed. But the creature never lets him get caught up in staring for too long, preferring to chase him through the surf, laughing and splashing back to shore.

Seunghyun sits on the edge of the waves as the setting sun paints the water gold, and Jiyong reaches out for him from his sprawl in the slackening tide.

"Come here," he murmurs, and his voice melds with the whisper and rush of waves on sand, and Seunghyun goes to him without question.

It should be strange but Jiyong is a comfortable weight above him, his hair brushing Seunghyun's cheek as he examines his face with such open curiosity that Seunghyun is almost worried the creature doesn't know what he's doing, why he's doing it. He barely registers the slide of scales against his abdomen, the delicate slip of fins against his ankles in the gentle rush of waves.

The kiss is new but doesn't feel it, full of slow passion as if they've kissed a hundred times, as if they've loved each other forever and aren't just discovering it now, and maybe they have.

It's certainly a surprise for both of them when Jiyong's slim thighs are straddling one of Seunghyun's, and when he realizes his hand is touching warm skin – the swell of Jiyong's ass and not the slippery brush of scales – he pulls back as if he's been burned. Jiyong laughs – sweet and simple, and there's no pull there at all – but it's not at Seunghyun's startle response, not quite. If not for the slow sunset he might have thought they sat there for hours, Jiyong resting against his thighs and examining his new legs with enraptured joy.

Seunghyun kisses him again, gently, on the corner of his lips, and Jiyong's shining lilac gaze meets his, full of so much happiness it takes his breath away.

"Take me home with you," Jiyong pleads, and Seunghyun laughs.

"Do you think I'd leave you here?" he asks, teasing.

Jiyong grins. "No. Never."

His sweatpants are too big but Jiyong wears them anyway, wrinkles his nose and steals Seunghyun's sweatshirt as well, and he smirks the whole way home as if the sight of Seunghyun's bare arms is a particular pleasure. The car ride is new and strange for him but so is walking, so is a good deal of everything, and it's wonderful to see his joy over the smallest things.

Seunghyun gets them fish for dinner when Jiyong voices his confusion over why it would be cooked. He's surprised and confused, but he likes it, and that is what's important.

And when Jiyong wants his assistance in exploring every inch of his new form, Seunghyun is more than happy to help. 

It's amazing to wake up beside him. It's amazing to spend any moment with him, and Seunghyun treasures every single one. Jiyong's happiness over the littlest things never seems to fade, and he takes the most delight in walking, running, skipping ahead – only to double back, latching onto Seunghyun with possessive ferocity, as if daring anyone else to walk with him. He's warmth and safety and love, and Seunghyun has never felt so happy in his life, never imagined it could be possible to be so completely and utterly content.

They're in the market when he notices. 

Jiyong loves shopping – not just for the sake of it, although Seunghyun can see his fascination with the rows and rows of stalls, food and books, clothes and jewelry, all laid out under the sky – but for the people there as well. Seunghyun wonders fleetingly if Jiyong spent most of his long life lonely, even though the creature has told him countless stories of friends among his kind, of humans he knew long ago in other lands, of other strange creatures he encountered. But the thought halts at the sight of the flower stall, and Seunghyun leaves Jiyong to his fascinated examination of an array of brightly colored beads. He picks anemone because he knows Jiyong will remember, and moments later he does, face lighting up with the smile Seunghyun loves so much as he tucks the flower behind Jiyong's ear. 

But as he pulls away, fingers sliding through his long hair, he notices the turquoise there is fading, softening into brown. 

He doesn't ask until later, and Jiyong says it's fine, not to worry, but his smile fades around the edges, and Seunghyun knows something is wrong.

There are other signs, now that he's looking, and the healthy tan fades from Jiyong's skin no matter how much time they spend outside, and some days Seunghyun catches him staring off into the distance – they're too far away for him to see, but he knows Jiyong is looking out at the sea. No matter how many times he asks, Jiyong insists he's fine. No matter that Seunghyun will do anything for him, take him anywhere. 

When he suggests they go to the beach on his next day off, Jiyong finally breaks down. He doesn't explain, not really, but Seunghyun can finally see it, can finally piece it together himself. He holds Jiyong tight, kisses his temple and rocks him until he's calm again, until the tears stop, but the hands that cling to him never stop shaking. Neither of them say it, but Seunghyun finally knows that Jiyong is afraid, terrified of going back – of being separated, maybe forever. And Seunghyun is afraid of that too, more than he'll ever admit, even to himself. Because Jiyong is all he has, and Jiyong is all he wants to have. 

Jiyong's eyes shine lavender in the bright sun, hold a violet ocean of stars in the glow of the moon, but when they muddy into brown Seunghyun knows he can't be afraid anymore. 

The morning Jiyong doesn't get up is precisely a year since they met, but Seunghyun pushes that knowledge to the back of his mind. Jiyong protests weakly when he picks him up, slides his arms beneath his knees, around his back, and lifts him as if he weighs nothing – which he does, he's insubstantial, and Seunghyun remembers a fleeting fear from when Jiyong was new and strange, imagines that he was right and the creature in his arms could fall away from him completely at the slightest touch. The car ride to their beach is torture. Jiyong cries the whole way, sobs that wrack his skinny frame, that double him over in his seat, and Seunghyun would stop, would go home but he can count every knob of Jiyong's spine, even through the heavy sweatshirt he's wearing against the cold that only he feels. And he can see a deeper pain under this one, a desperate desire for _home_ trapped under the weight of Jiyong's fear, and the trembling edge of knowledge of what denying that need will mean. 

Jiyong fights him against getting out of the car, leaves scratches on his arms and finally Seunghyun sinks to his knees beside him, and the tears he doesn't want Jiyong to see threaten to spill over.

"Please, please don't make me go back," Jiyong whispers, and his voice is just a voice, exhausted, full of pain, and Seunghyun chokes back a sob. "Please don't make me leave you."

"I'll be just as alone if you die," Seunghyun answers, and Jiyong stares at him with tired eyes, but he doesn't protest when he's picked up this time.

"I never imagined I would."

"Die?"

The hill is steep, but Seunghyun is careful. Jiyong's delicate arms slide around his neck, hold on as tightly as he can – not tightly at all – and he tries not to think this is the last time they'll hold onto each other.

"We don't," Jiyong murmurs, looking out at the sea. Seunghyun can see the longing there, the need. On the beach he helps Jiyong out of his clothes, and doesn't even blink when Jiyong pushes at his shirt, only strips it off obediently. "Or, we hardly ever do. There are so few of us anyway, if we... if we died like humans do, there'd be none of us left."

Jiyong seems stronger even here on the shore, and he won't go far into the water. On the edge of the surf, waves crashing against their hips, he keeps his grip on Seunghyun.

"Not yet," he says softly, and Seunghyun thinks he can feel the echo of something in his voice. "Kiss me first. Before you let me go. Please."

It's not like any kiss they've shared before. It's desperate and sorrowful, more like a goodbye than anything else, and Seunghyun wishes he could say they don't have to be apart forever – just because Jiyong can't be with him all the time doesn't mean he'll forget – but he remembers the stories Jiyong has told him, tales of love lost and strange rules that bind tighter than any understanding permits, and thinks maybe it is goodbye after all. 

Jiyong pushes him over into the sand, lips still locked together, and the slide of scales against each other startles them both so badly that Seunghyun thinks he might have shouted. Jiyong pulls back panting, hands braced on either side of his head, and Seunghyun allows himself the time to admire the lilac of his eyes, the turquoise in his hair, the warm glow of his skin, before the initial panic of confusion carries him away again.

Jiyong laughs like the crash of waves against rocky cliffs, and coaxes him easily out into deeper water, and teaches him to swim.

"There are stories I'd forgotten," he says later, when they've washed up on the shore again. Seunghyun feels strangely languid, stretched out in the gentle roll of the waves with Jiyong's fingers threading through his damp hair. Jiyong says the black is streaked with blue, and Seunghyun believes him - would believe anything, now, and Jiyong's other hand dances down his side to pull him closer, slides over green and gold scales as if they aren't a surprise to feel at all. Seunghyun is still surprised every time.

"Stories you'd forgotten?"

"Or maybe that I never bothered to remember. They were foolish."

Seunghyun smiles, catches Jiyong's trailing hand and threads their fingers together. "About what, though?"

"There was one, of lovers who could each take the form of the other, so they were never parted by the whim of the sea. But I didn't think..."

Seunghyun shrugs eloquently, and pulls Jiyong in for a kiss.

\---

He sits on the bench, looking out over the bay, and smiles when Jiyong rushes so far down the quay that he soaks the cuffs of his shorts. The sun is almost set, the last golden rays spreading across the water like shimmering fire.

"Yah, Seunghyun, come on already…"

He looks down at the flower in his hands, purple and white and simple, and rolls the stem between his palms. And as he sits on the bench longer, he realizes; nothing will be as special as that flower. Or perhaps, only one thing. 

"Seunghyun, _come on_!"

He laughs and drops the flower off the side of the quay, pulling off his shirt even as he moves towards where Jiyong waits at the top of the ramp, hands on his hips.

"I love you," he says calmly, and presses a kiss to Jiyong's pouting lips.

Jiyong laughs, and the tide rushes in to pull them both to sea.

**Author's Note:**

> Probably the only old GTOP work of mine I'll repost here. I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
